trump.history's sake, the prosecution said social media has boasted in the past of how many people read his posts, and he was asked in 2021, he said, yeah, i think that's right. do you want me to say no? i retweet for a reason. they are currently in break here and about to reconvene, the court, in which david pecker, excuse me, will take the stand again. as to the gag order, josÉ, judge merchan said he will reserve his judgment on whether donald trump has violated it and it's not his timeline on when he will make the determination if donald trump is find and he could warn donald trump that he could serve jail time. >> unbelievable, charles, and this is in the morning before the first witness takes the stand. how would you describe the morning? >> this is not the start you want if you are donald trump, and i have been talking to a number of us on the panel, and i am surprised that todd blanche did not have a better explanation and response for some of the questions that judge merchan has thro

trump's. so i mean, that's the only reason that that matters. but the other thing i would just note, i mean, the karen mcdougal story is not over. this is just the beginning of what we will learn about this. karen mcdougal story. and when you look at the charges jeong documents here for trump, there are some hints about where this goes next david pecker ends up paying her, but at some point, he decides to not get reimbursed from trump wod and i'm curis as to why that happened. so ts is the opening salvo, but there's more to come. >> so again, you're not going to find the crime a to z found in any one paragraphf testimony, prosecutors have to build a case here. i think two things jump out at mfrom the transcriptone,his is a full nine alarm fire in trump wld & in the national enquirer in pecker'environment, they are i mean, they're pulling each other out of meetings. borderline panicking. the other thing is that a establishes a really important chain of communication because this is one of the r

trump? pecker responded on no. so how does that help bolster the case that this was potentially criminal interference in the presidential election. >> yeah. was that the timing of that? particular meeting helps do it because there'll be right around the time we would expect that trump would be contemplating his run gearing up for the run, worried about potential negative press and i completely agree with kaitlan here. this is the start of a story that it's really going to be extending throughout this trial. it's not actually the crux of the criminal case. the crux of the criminal case concerns how and why stormy daniels was paid through michael cohen. that's gonna be the main event for the jurors. with this is all crucial context with the jury's to understand all of everything that leads as three microbreweries with us as well. a former us attorney, michael, let's talk a little bit about pecker's testimony. he said trump was quote, frugal in his approach to money. frugal, a direct quote personally reviewing all exp

whether trump knew about it, whether trump knew at the time that his payments to michael cohen were, in fact, a reimbursement to michael cohen for fronting the hush money to stormy daniels. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> michael's my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> no, i don't know. >> what trump knew about that reimbursement system and when he knew it will also be central to the case, which is what makes these less recognizable names also very interesting, jeffrey mcconnie. he would have had access and maybe needed to approve the payments to michael cohen which were all classified as payments for legal services. westerhaut was the oval office secretary and because trump was doing all this reimbursing while he was in the white house as the president, she would have had a front row seat. that's not even the whole potential witness list. joining me now to discuss our msnbc legal correspondent lisa ruben and ankush khandori. you were more informed, lisa, given your following and dee

trump on trial. new york versus defendant donald trump. we are joined by district attorney joyce vance and jason johnson. both analysts for us, joyce, i went through some of what we got this opening week. it fair to say if you are on the jury, the da is up in the lead. i was careful to say it doesn't mean we know the outcome. what do they have to worry about? >> it is a great question. if you are the prosecution and you are not up after your first witness, you are in big trouble. right? but, the prosecution really did start off i think with an unexpected bang. no one knew what to expect out of david pecker. we knew he had been cooperating with prosecutors and brought trump into the election fraud conspiracy necessary to turn the misdemeanor into a felony. he today up well on testimony. they did not seem to come after him with a lot. they questioned some of the key pieces of evidence. but he was thoroughly rehabilitated on cross- examination. >> i don't want to be unkind to the defendant. and he is legally presumed innocent. but his family

donald trump? about donald trump is a good question, chris. donald trump has staying power in so many ways. well, you may lose an election like the one in 2020, you also continue to have a following that is indignant upon any efforts to undermine him or the prestige of the trump organization or the political following, one that did garner more than 80 million votes in 2020, and folks are not naive to that, so even when donald trump loses an election or endorses candidates in 2022 who do lose, he continues to hold power to a great extent and also financial power, and that is what michael cohen for all those years had a full understanding of. hope hicks is going to take the stand here as a witness, and she has never met the ire of donald trump. those individuals who have caught his frustration are those who have attempted to sustain away from him, and when those individuals do step away from him, donald trump like bill barr, you are all but gone from his orbit here, and that's where folks like allen

he let's trump speak. he let's other members of the team speak and he's doing sort of the the substantive work, writing the motions and appearing in court on trump's behalf. but he he decided that the benefits outweigh the costs here the point that sarah chris off thanks for your insight. >> we appreciate it very much. i'm just the had the trump criminal trial zeroes in on the money trail. we're breaking down more significant testimony. that's next from meat free monday to sizzle pans sunday so many ways to say life ready wallet, happy. that's 3605 by whole foods market, kinda riva support your brain health, mary janet, hey eddie, know, fraser, franck. franck, bread. how are you? >> brad fuel up to seven brain health indicators, including your memory, joined the neretva brain health challenge today's the data without the newest big money would or at publishers clearing house. and here it is. the prize patrol, just the the winter and you could watch the one moment, facebook.com slash pc age facebook.com sla

but the prosecutors refused to give trump trump's lawyers the names of these witnesses because trump was start reporting about them on a social media site. >> yeah. and the judge agreed they did. they aren't entitled to this information and this is the legal consequences of these political attacks. so most of the violations of trump's gag order are made in furtherance of his political agenda, but that can have real legal repercussions. i'm sure his lawyers would very much like to know who the first couple of witnesses are going to be. but because of the conduct of their client, they will not have access to that it's a little bit it stands in contrast to the way the federal cases are being handled, particularly in terms of discovery. so we know that witness lists have already been turned over to trump's lawyers in both the florida in dc cases it's surprising to me that the judges enforcing the prosecution to be a little bit more forthcoming about what they're what their lineup of first few witnesses it looks like because it's a matter of judicial economy, you want the defense to be ab

>> it depends on whether trump would -- >> but trump would give it back.hey should not vote for trump. i understand given the arithmetic that may mean that biden is elected. that's not going to make me happy, but i would be happy to talk to any republican and i talk to many of them frequently to say that this misplaced idea that they have that trump is better than biden is simply inaccurate. >> what do you make of liz cheney's commitment to do everything in her power, i think she said, every cell in her body will go towards making sure trump is never elected again? >> i think it's a worthy effort. i hope he's not re-elected. >> do you view the threat of trump as -- his celebration of orban, was that something that you saw behind closed doors. do you view the threat of trumpism akin to the threat of an autocracy? >> i do not believe that trump represents an existential threat to democracy. and i think that probably puts me at a minority on this network. but i think our constitution is strong. i think our institutions are strong. i think our people are stron

biden and trump's ratings are almost equal. 46% versus 45 in favor of trump.improved since late february, when trump had a 5% lead. a narrowing gap indicates that the confrontation will be painful. the outcome of the last two presidential elections was determined by dozens of thousands of votes in several states, and this time is unlikely to be an exception. in a country that is so... even the slightest changes can become decisive, and from here follows the second trap into which trump was literally led, trump has no time left to conduct a normal election campaign, it is clear that the republicans have their own electoral base, they will be for trump anyway, but they are finite, there will be no more republicans by november 2024, which is why he needs to travel to these swing states, meaning michigan. trump was thus de-energized, disconnected from his voters, but donald trump would not have been donald trump if he had not found a way out of this difficult situation. the republican is always known for his ability to turn a seemingly completely unwinnable situat

trump, his family wasn't mentioned. jessica. >> this is a key part of pecker's testimony to shore up the prosecution's theory that these payments that ami made and that michael cohen go to the crux of the case or campaign contributions that exceeded the amounts an individual under law was permitted to donate to a campaign. pecker said we were involved with stories with respect to trump earlier in our association with him before he ran for office, and at those earlier times, trump was concerned about protecting his family, but once it came time to be in the campaign when we were in the campaign, trump's concerns were all about the effect on his campaign prospects, and that's what, again, makes these payments and these stories different from all of those others. >> let's get another update from our vaughn hillyard at the courthouse. i understand they're talking about a 2015 meeting? >> reporter: you guys were talking about the effort of donald trump's defense team apparently trying to disconnect this from the significance

this day, one of his closest top advisers, also pro-trump attorney john eastman, former trump campaign lawyer, jenna ellis, along with 2020 campaign official mike roman. donald trump himself. you don't see his picture there. he's an unindicted coconspirator. we are told this indictment includes charges ranging from conspiracy and forgery to engaging in fraudulent schemes this is arizona's attorney general, kris mayes, announcing these indictments tonight. >> the people of arizona elected president biden, unwilling to accept this fact. the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency whatever their reasoning was, the plot to violate the law must be answered for an i was elected to uphold the law of the state let's get straight to, the source tonight with cassidy hutchinson, a former top aide to mark meadows, and now a frequent target of donald trump's after her explosive testimony before the january 6 committee. and cassie, it's great to have you here tonight. i should note we had already scheduled in an interview with you

there's dark trump's assistant talking about seeing stormy daniels at trump tower before trump ran for president, there's discussions about the bank arrangements for trump's so-called fixer of the time michael cohen. so but the question here, do you is, have prosecutors made the case that a crime was actually committed? they haven't made a case that a crime has actually committed, but they did what they needed to do in this first week of the trial, what they had to do was at least bring the jury in and start establishing the parameters of the the crime that there are and the bigger thing and the bigger point for prosecutors is that there were no unforced errors. there was no witness that came up and said something that people didn't anticipate there was no witness that got eviscerated on cross-examination. so i think prosecutors are happy with how the week went, but trials are long and it's not but there's also a different what's happening in the courtroom and what's happening in the court of public opinion are new cnn poll talks about how 68% of p of voters nationally viewed trump's t

trump. >> her finger, possibly her fist. maybe her whole arm. left foot as well. possibly. mark, most people out there have lives to live. most people don't have the ins and outs and toy don't have lisa rubin on speed dial like we do. how many americans do you think are watching all of these trials and basically just rooting for their side regardless of the evidence? >> that's a great question. i think probably those who are paying attention to these, i think that has a predominating view people are looking at. i think they are looking at it probably through an election context. through ha political context. and it is kind of a sad state of affairs but it is also, it is such a noise thing at this point. there are so many cases, so many complexities. a lot of this stuff is pretty turgid to begin with. the basic contours of that are the broad trump strategy no matter what the case is, it seems like certainly with judge cannon, he has a willing partner here. and you're right. some of the kind o

we had a visual of donald trump.orning he was quite engaged with his lawyers, passing notes back and forth, whispering, sort of the things you would imagine, and then around noon, it looked like he was nodding off. not sure, but you're watching, and all of a sudden his head went down and snapped back up. that was quite a moment. >> live tv is i don't always nod off, because i have a small child at home. i'm sympathetic to the snoozing. >> it is hot in there. >> when joe biden blinks too long, it's a major issue. that he nodded off in his own criminal trial is an interesting contrast to what we'll hear from him later. >> they're just finishing up jury selection. i think we got a real insight into why this takes so long. why is jury selection going to take two weeks, at least. today, the whole morning was consumed with procedure motions, some of the ones you mentioned at the top, whether or not one of them is the "national enquirer" if we should have a broad of view of the "national enquirer." there's a reeling that me

. >>> tonight, donald trump and the judge at trump's criminal trial here in new york holding trump in contempt of court, and fining him. and warning trump that he could be put in jail if he continues. here's aaron katersky. >> reporter: tonight, the judge in donald trump's criminal trial holding the former president in contempt of court for his relentless public attacks on witnesses and potential jurors. judge juan merchan ruling trump violated the gag ordinary nine times, slapping him with a $9,000 fine, the most allowable, and a warning, if trump keeps it up, it may be "necessary and appropriate" to throw him in jake. the ruling coming on day nine of the trial. trump repeatedly complaining how cold it is in court. >> i'm going to sit in a freezing cold ice box for eight hours, nine hours or so, they took me off the campaign trail. >> reporter: for the first time, a member of trump's family accompanying him to court. his son eric, who sat behind his father. prosecutors today laying out the hush money payment at the heart of the case, showing the jury how trump's former fixer michael

trump has already violated the gag order at least seven times this week alone giving trump the name sunday limits the timem he has to violate the gag order before court resumes on monday. also happening on monday, 10:00 a.m. eastern, just 30 minutes after opening statements kick off in his criminal trial donald trump's other attorneys will head just down the street to a different manhattan courthouse for a civil fraud case hearing that could threaten hundreds ofu millions of dollars in his assets. today new york attorney general leticia james asked the judge to void donald trump's $175 million bond in the case siting concerns that the bond company might not actually have the funds to back it up. >>> leading off our discussion tonight adam a fellow at just security who is covering the trial for the last word, also with us joyce a former united states attorney and a professor at the university of alabama school of law. she is co host of the hash tag sisters in law podcast and an msnbc analyst. thank you for being here. all right, trump's claiming he will be a witness. the judge will rule mon

he was as it says, in these documents, doing work for the trump the trump family for the trump organization. he was doing what he had always done. so i think we're going to start to hear a lot about michael cohen. >> he was trump's lawyer. he was the so-called fixer. we all know all about that. i'm crushed. what do you think i think michael cohen is going to be a major part of the opening. >> he is, as we currently understand the case, a key part of the da's case on that could change as a introduce evidence that may corroborates cohen. obviously, there have been some folks on the witness list who were all sort of wondering what are they going to be testifying about but at least out of the gate, i would expect donald trump's lawyers to really be hammering on cohen and basically saying this man is completely unreliable. he's lived every branch of the federal government in the last few years. you shouldn't believe them now, if you don't believe them now you need to acquit donald trump. >> and one thing i do want to add here about michael cohen is obviously donald trump has his gag order in pla

everyone is expected to be loyal to trump, but trump is not loyal back to them.us to see how he behaves when it's michael cohen's turn on the stand. even though they will try to impugn his integrity and all that, that's fine, but there are receipts. this case isn't just based on michael cohen's word on things. there are other people corroborating this, and david pecker being one of them. that's why he went first. >> dave i wanted to turn to the gag order violations, trump is accused of violating the gag order four more times, bringing the total number of violations to 15. some eagle experts have speculated judge mershon might be willing to rule on these all at once rather separately. will he be asked to spend a night in jail or have consequence for violating these gag orders? >> maybe way down the line, ayman, but i think he's going to get a fine, an accumulation of fines, but trump is being treated different than us. i've never seen any defendant curse at the judge and get away with it. i mean the judge has the gavel, where's the black robe, you have to stand wh

in trump's life is better than others, that's trump.his is trump, you can already go to vote at the headquarters, you understand, this is trump, but why spend money there? one, then why create an escalation, two, then why should ukraine liberate territories, three, when it will still leave behind only what trump and putin agree on, well, that ’s what, you know, if you are a businessman, that’s all absolutely useless steps, but if putin wants this, this and that, he will get it, question. simply in the fact that a certain number of ukrainians and russians will die in defense of this territory, or in its liberation, conditionally speaking, and for what? and you will also perish, let some more amount of american money be spent? and everything is very simple: in november, trump wins, this is his idea of ​​life, his staff immediately starts some negotiations with the kremlin, at the moment when trump becomes president, a security agreement is concluded between the states and russia, uh, but... to me they just report that she has such and suc

president trump: i'm doing good. how you doing, trump? president trump: i'm doing good. you having one? you have it, i'll sign it >> i don't got one, i'll need one. president trump: see if i can find one. that's a valuable one. grab one of these. thank you. that's great. your family's good, right? >> yes, sir. president trump: we are not letting them -- >> stop the steal. president trump: take that. make you good and healthy. who wants it? ok. you can afford to have t you know why? because you're thin. [laughter] >> who wants one? president trump: brian jack. does everybody know him? brian jack is running district 3. we have to vote for him. running for congress. >> i do. i put canvasses together. all these hbcu students you see here around here to meet you, mr. president. yes. we have also knocked doors for you in the past. and when you ran the first time. i was interning for the g.o.p. doing a lot for your tax credit reform bill. president trump: we took care of those colleges. >> sure did. much better than biden did. this is morehouse. i don't care what the media tell

that includes the incident with donald trump before donald trump. david pecker last week, they might've gotten the impression that it was a weekly practice that we were catching and killing stories for politicians and businessmen every week. that is not the case. we were chasing and trying to break stories. that's the reason i went there. sort of weeks before the deal is hatched, i break the rant that men that hulk hogan was kicked out of the world wrestling hall of fame. we were doing newsgathering until we learned 2015 meeting happened sand david pecker makes this deal to be the eyes and ears. this was not normal practice. it is not something that was going on or anyone else running for president. >> or the overwhelming majority of media organizations are white house i've ever worked on. let me ask you about last week. you knew a lot about what had happened. you obviously knew the big witness from last week. as you were listening to that testimony from david pecker, was there anything that surprised you that you heard in the testimony and what stu

with trump. he was instead speaking to the prosecutor and turning at times to talk to the jury. and he was just setting up what he did as publisher of ami, they polish national enquirer at the time. so they haven't gotten to what the core of the cases this conspiracy just yet but he is setting it up for the jurors. they can understand what his job is and that they were in the business of checkbook journalism as he put it, meaning that they would by stories. and so establishing what his role was in this, when he got off the stand after just a brief part of testimony, maybe less than half an hour as he was leaving the courtroom through that same he looked over at donald trump's table, said hi and smiled. it was unclear if trump had reciprocated. we couldn't see his face at that moment. based on how the officers stationed in the courtroom but really just kind of set this first day of this historic moment as we're going to get now into the witness testimony and the four elements of this alleged consp

trump. today on day four of the trial, the full panel of 12 jurors and six alternates were shown in to consider donald trump's fate in the historic first criminal trial of a former u.s. president. judge marchand told the court that the opening statements would start on monday. that did not stop donald trump's lawyers to try to delay the case. this is at least the tenth time the trump team has been denied a trial delay request. donald trump isn't going to stop the wheels of justice from turning on monday. a key question is whether or not he'll be a witness in his own criminal trial. this is what donald trump told reporters today. >> are you going to testify? >> yes. >> now, this is donald trump we're talking about. his yes can't really be taken at face value. especially when we know what sorts of questions donald trump could be facing from prosecutors. after jury selection was complete, the judge held a sandoval hearing where prosecutors revealed the lawsuits they plan on using in cross-exami

trump, many of them signed while trump was in the white house. and it wasp all an amazing spectacle, right? other presidents maybe get involved in a campaign finance scandal, but illegal hush money payments to not one but two mistresses for reimbursement checks signed in the white house, "a," gross. "b," not your typical scandal. we're already in unprecedented territory here. that'sde not the most important point. the michael cohen federal case revelations, michaelca cohen, pleading guilty, coming clean saying what happened, that left in itsed wake not just a slimy trail of, yuck, don't let the kids read the news anymore. it left in its wake one legitimately baffling question, which was who's going to get in trouble for thisto now? who's the one person getting in trouble for this crime? just michael cohen, really? he'soh going to federal prison r years ando he's the only one? why is that? why is he the only one? you know why that was? we now know why that was. and it's really bad. it's one's of the worst things learned about donald trump's behavi

is outfront i have a trump-hating judge with the trump-hating wife and family, >> donald trump has attacked the judge who will preside over his hush money trial beginning monday from every angle, everything is politics in the city including decisions and judges and everything else. >> trump has called judge juan merchan, a certified trump hater and has blasted his daughter, lauren, for her work as a senior executive at a super liberal democrat firm, lauren more sean has served as the president of authentic campaigns, a firm that handles online advertising and his broaden millions some dollars for work with democrats, including the biden and harris campaigns in 2020 and outspoken trump critic congressman adam schiff, it is unclear if she's still serves in that role. >> this is really seems to be like grasping at straws to say, because his daughter worked somewhere somehow that makes him by a small contributions from judge marshall on in july 2020, including $50 earmarked for the biden campaign and to $10 donations to the group's stop republicans and the progressive turnout project have also

trump. with the stormy daniels, it started in 2011 when she wanted to have something removed from a website. that was the first time i spoke with keep david and her, her acting attorney and we were successful in having it taken down from the website. years later, around the time of the campaign, they came back and they asked what are you going to do now because she is back on the trail trying to sell the story. at which point, david pecker on behalf of the national enquirer reached out to her and her attorney in order to take a look at lie detector tests that would prove she was telling the truth. they then contacted me and told me she was telling the truth at which point >> she took a lie detector test? >> she was seen by an employee of the national enquirer is when i went into mr. trump's office and explained why this time it's different than another time. >> where there are other women given hush money by donald trump or his organization? was the standard? >> no. i'm not aware of any othe

a trump abortion ban.eve he will not sign a national ban. enough with the gas lighting. it is your power that will put this great in the arizona state constitution and it is your power that will send joe biden and me back to the white house. >> joining me now is lisa lerer, national political correspondent for "the new york times," and co-author of upcoming book "the fall of rome, the rise of a new america." lisa, i am such a fan of all of your reporting on all of this and you had interesting reporting ahead of this event about how vice president harris made this event, it went from an official white house event to a campaign event. my question to you would be for a while we've heard about the biden/harris campaign toggling between different topics as the big difference makers in the election, democracy, the economy. that's what it feels like they are coalescing around abortion as being a very powerful motivator in november. >> one top biting strategist tells me it is a powerful motivator and a powerful mo

and trump's former fixer, michael cohen, to protect trump during the 2016 campaign. david pecker grinning widely as he pointed out trump in the courtroom, the former president smirking back. the two men had been friends for years. but pecker told the jury their relationship changed in 2015, after trump launched his run for president, pecker was summoned to trump tower that august, and in a 20-minute meeting, he said trump and cohen asked me, what can i do and what my magazines can do to help the campaign. pecker testified he pledged to run flattering stories about trump and hit jobs on his opponents, and he offered to be the campaign's eyes and ears to alert cohen if he caught wind of any potentially damaging stories. pecker said he told trump he'd try to kill those stories so they'd never see the light of day. as pecker described that trump tower meeting, jurors were rapt, taking constant notes. pecker laid out how he worked with trump and cohen to publish attacks on rival republican candidates. cohen would tell him who to go after, and the magazine would do it. pec

if what a day in trump world? >> there's court today hearing arguments on trump's claims of absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for anything related to his presidency. >> several justices, even seeming open to some level of immunity, while others so much i'm trying to understand what the dish incentive is from turning the oval office into the seat of criminal activity in this country this case could go back to the lower courts, which would severely delay the start of trump's federal election subversion trial that could ultimately mean that trump's hush money trial in manhattan may very well be the only criminal trial to actually take place before the election. and on day seven of that trial, the former national enquirer publisher, david pecker, has once again taking the stand to testify against trump, who surprisingly gave him rave reviews today was breathtaking this room you saw went on, was breathtaking and amazing testimony breathtaking and amazing testimony how well that's why you don't hear every day

in 2022 trump mead yush the parent company of trump's truth social received a total of $8 million in loans from a company called es family trust. and es trust is actually just a shell company created by the co-owner of a bank in the caribbean known as paxum. it's not only a bank known for its work with the online porn industry, it's not even properly licensed to make loans in the united states. and the russian american businessman who allegedly arranged that loan is also allegedly under scrutiny in a federal insider trading and money laundering investigation. and the reason trump's media company needed that $8 million in the first place despite trump's claims about being flush with cash, the reason the company needed that cash so quickly was because in 2021 the company had planned to merge with another big company for a big cash infusion, but that merger was held up by the sec because even that deal seemed shady. and it turns out the sec was right to be suspicious. today two of the early investors in the company that trump media tried to merge with in 2021 pleaded guilty to securitie

quote trump corporation and trump payroll corp. convicted of 17 felony counts of scheming to defraud, conspiracy, ml tax fraud and falsifying this is records in connection with a scheme to pay unreported non-cash compensation to top executives including alan weisselberg and the district attorney would use another civil case against trump, one, by attorney general james, quote, defendant illegally allowed his 2016 presidential campaign to orchestrate a fundraiser for the donald j trump foundation direct distribution of the funds and use the fundraiser and distribution of the funds to further defendant's political campaign. court order defendant to pay $2 million for reach of fiduciary duty and waste defendant stipulated to the dissolution of the donald j trump foundation to resolve claims by the new york attorney general to reach fiduciary duty and waste failure to properly administer charitable assets improper political activity and repeated and willful self dealing transactions. donald trump's lawyers will surely oppose everyone o

admiration for donald trump. listen to this. this is a quote. this is her it was a very stimulating, exciting, fascinating place to be. then she said, sometimes trump would peak has said in and say, go home to your family, which i thought was very thoughtful of him. i thought that was a nice extra touch that he would take time to do that trump's lawyer, susan nicholas asked her, quote you don't want to be here, do you? and she coronagraph said correct. what's your analysis them? >> the point there is that she's under subpoena. she's not voluntarily coming in to try to help out the prosecution i think that that's something that's consistent across these witnesses. is that the only one who really is dying to get in there is probably stormy daniels and michael so call it the others who are being brought in just to tell their stories was running graph is a prosecution witness and prosecution called her. but did she do a lot to humanize trump before the jury? >> i mean, i think that she probably did i mean, it sounds

so say blame donald trump. you n still blame donald trump for this.p will still be bad for women's reproductive rights, despite what he is saying today >> very good points, ladies. margaret hoover, s. e. cupp, i think it's very significant that you sayok, immigration was the bideal there in arizona and now you see topsy turvy, that abortion could be the thing that moves that state thank you. appreciate you both. john

she's a longtime trump assistance. she worked for trump since he hired her in 1987 after she cold calls to trump organization were on a graph, testified i'd two contacts you maintained at the trump organization were for karen mcdougal & stormy daniels run a graph was on the stand for less than half an hour earlier today, trump's attorneys cross-examined david pecker, the former tabloid magnate and longtime friend of donald trump. let's dive into all of this with my panel. so jamie put rona graph into context for us a lot of people who know trump world were excited about this testimony. she was a vice president for the firm. she was a very important player in his world she testified today very testified very briefly. >> right. so loyal trustee, gatekeeper for those of us going back, who wanted to interview donald trump. that's who you call she was she knew everything was going on back when he was like a real estate tycoon and that's it back in the ice age. that was hey, you know, you want but she also her her desk was r

trump walking into court today. prosecutors outlining their case, accusing trump of election fraud, pure and simple, they said today. trump's lawyers saying, quote, there is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election, it's called democracy, and that none of this was a crime. then prosecutors calling the first witness, david pecker, to the stand. the former publisher of the national inquirer, who was part of a scheme prosecutors say called catch and kill. abc's senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky leading us off from the courthouse again tonight. >> reporter: donald trump walking into the manhattan courtroom where today for the first time in history a jury heard testimony in a criminal case against a former american president. >> it's a very, very sad day in america. i can tell you that. >> reporter: with trump slouching in his seat and sometimes closing his eyes, prosecutor matthew colangelo began his opening statement charging trump "orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidenti

trump. and so the prosecution is going to have to figure out a way to suggest that this is somehow different, that they is delete with their trump's, so to speak. and this is not a personal matter between a man trying to hide it from his wife. it was an intentional at trying to defraud people by having falsified business records that form these invoices and what not and prove it. there was actual criminal activity here. they cannot rely on a little bit of innuendo or suggestion, or maybe even a dislike for him and the political space they have to prove their case& they've got do it pretty quickly to head off or will be the opening from the fans which will surely try to show this as a political win. >> elie honig, what, what about the defense was expecting to hear from them? >> so first of all, they're going to argue they have to prove their case. the prosecution bears the burden of proof, not just probably not just more likely, but beyond a reasonable doubt. and the defense is going to argue

trump added the part that read "in order to get on the trump jury." but within hours jesse waters corrected trump's mistake for him, posting trump's incorrect version of the quote to waters own twitter account in effect retroactively making his own words, words that trump wanted them to be. quite clearly and quite literally they are heeding trump's calls. they are taking his line edits. so what does a gag order mean when you have someone like this with a microphone? >> the guy needs exercise. he's usually golfing, and so you're going to put a man who's almost 80 sitting in a room like this on his butt all that time, it's unhealthy. he needs sunlight and needs activity. they're freezing him to death. he says it's like 45 degrees in there, and they're putting his life in danger. back with me lisa rubin. thank you both for being here tonight. i don't know, brian, i just -- what is the -- what's the point of a gag order honestly when you have a media industrial complex that is effectively acting as, you know, a public defense line for donald trump? >> i t

trump's oval office secretary during the period when cohen was being reimbursed by trump. because trump was doing all this reimbursing when he was in the white house as president, she a front row seat. and that's not even the whole potential witness list. joining me now to discuss our msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin and kush kadori. lisa, i was interested in this potential witness list, and i'm sure you were interested and more informed in following this case and deep legal expertise. who among those names stuck out to youuc as being essential? >> people are going to be talking when this trial gets under wayia about madeleine. that's because there were multiple checks. he didn't repay him in one lump sum. he repaid him over a series of months. six of the checks at least that were sent to michael cohen were signed by donald j. trump in his distinctive sharpy scrawl and at a time when he was president of the united states. you havede to ask yourself wher was donald trump when he signed those checks? the way they were formulated you can see they were computerized, genera

, trump's team suggested the payments trump made to cohen. we're not a payback for funds paid to stormy daniels, but instead payments do as personal attorney trump defended himself against these charges after court on monday and invoice. >> so whatever, a bill. >> and they didn't call it a legal expense. >> i got indicted for that land shifted blame to cohen saying the reality is mr. trump is not on the hook, is not criminally responsible for something mr. cohen may have done years after the fact. blanche said the prosecution's outline of a supposed catching killed deal with was not a scheme, but completely irrelevant and not illegal in the afternoon as briefly took the stand, he did not look at trump, but trump look directly at him as he testified david was on the stand for about 20 minutes to de he was explaining to the jury how the national enquirer operate, saying that they did pay for certain stories he testified on the celebrity sayyed of the magazine industry, at least on the tabloid side, we use checkbook journalism and we paid for st

the reason i find this frustrating is donald trump says wild stuff all the time. for example, he recently called the january 6 prisoners hostages that he would very, very seriously consider pardoning. talk about that, or the hundreds of other crazy things he says, there is no reason to hone in on nothing burgers like these blood bath statements. and we end off with jim walsh on tiktok, said it really doesn't matter if trump was literal or rhetorical in his threats. what scares drim apparently. le is something else completely, let us find out what it is. so our friend donald, the mango mussolini, has promised, quote, a blood bath, unquote, if he doesn't get back in this november, and of course the question is, does he mean literally, is he inciting violence, or is he just pandering to the brain dead faithful? to me, the answer is, it doesn't matter, we just don't want this guy back in office. "we got to do what we got to do to make sure he doesn't get back in, that's the worst possible scenario. he said something though in the speech that concerned me a lot more wh

it comes as trump. trump's team is also attacking a key member of bragg's team, the da, with past ties to the biden administration, and jason carroll is out front with this special report before former president donald trump's criminal trial got underway, before jury was seated and before the judge's gag order prevented him from making statements it's about attorneys, court officials, their relatives, and potential witnesses. >> trump had already set his sights on this man, matthew colangelo senior counsel to the manhattan district attorney, and part of the prosecution team trying trump's criminal case. >> this is all from the doj welcome to washington they're coordinated with the district attorney and the water trump's pre gag order tirades against colangelo's center on baseless claims. trump's criminal trial is secretly controlled by president joe biden, the white house, and the justice department. >> his top person well and some. others have been placed into the da's office to make sure they do a goo

trump and reached an agreement. so the american people wouldn't know about that affair and said and met with trump that trump promised to repay him. it's a separate narrative that the american people weren't affair of. they only know about michael cohen. mr. trump has not attacked his close friend. >> he has not. that's interesting to note. before i let you know, if prison time is on the table. there are sentencing guidelines. i would note that judge merchan said he regretted to agreeing a five month sentence for trump company ceo saying he would have imposed a harsher punishment. we never know what a judge will decide. you know that well. is it conceivable for people watching if he's convicted he'll go to jail for this? >> he most certainly will. if he's elected president, i hope that won't take place. he says he can pardon himself and he will probably try. he cannot pardon a criminal conviction by a jury of a state crime. he must go to jail. i would not favor putting him behind bars. i would favor a house arrest.

trump account. so the whole press conference was a bit of a i think a pr disaster because it's going to hurt him in court eventually. and so the jury and he came out, he does that eight minutes, jeremy talking, of course, in the courtroom what else did to you? i stopped you. i know you mentioned that he was passing notes to his attorneys at time that he was engaged you know, what we're what moore's interactions like with his team and with the jury yeah. >> it's interesting because when his attorney, todd blanche went to speak, trump's demeanor, it's shifted. he turned his chair, he faced he faced him, which made him faced the jury, and he watched plants as he went through his opening statement. i think the most interesting thing with trump today that was when david took the stand because trump, he was sitting very motionless expressionless, really watching david closely. and there was a light moment in his testimony where he was asked to recount the last four digits if a cell phone number it's for r

trump?at is critical. why is that critical? well, because in order for this particular crime to be a felony, they have to show that donald trump not only caused business records to be falsified, and with the intent to commit a crime, but the intent to commit that crime and to cover up kind of goes in with the election interference, with the state campaign violation, so that -- that meeting actually puts all of them together, right? and so what that meeting really does is it is going to corroborate cohen's testimony, and it is going to show that pecker's acts were on the benefit of the campaign. can a person go ahead and contribute and independently benefit a campaign? yes, they can. pecker could have caught and killed the stories, but he cannot do it, it is a violation of the law, and that there goes with the intent to commit the crime which raises the crime to a felony. he cannot do it if he is led or guided or instructed or directed by trump or his agents. trump himself was at that meeting

sounds like one of trump's antics. but for these women, one of the reasons that they switched their votes from buy, from trump to biden back in 2020 is that they thought that trump lack had bad character and created chaos and was gross to women. and so this highlights and reinforces it for them. and so they take it more seriously and is the trump campaign when anything about the fact that there are so many women voters were concerned about these characters. >> they can't change his personality and they can't change his personal history that we're all deeply aware of. they are trying to focus it's on bragged. they're trying to focus on, quote, unquote witch hunt. they're doing their best to take the focus off of allegations about his sexual misconduct over the years. and in fact, at the hearing on friday, part of the conversation is about whether or not it would be okay if in the theoretical circle stands that trump does sit for a cross-examination, as he said, that he would if it would be okay to ask him about e. jean

all of the people in trump's orbits are guilty of different crimes except trump. trump is not found guilty. cohen goes to prison for literally taking money out of his house to pay for a hush money trial and yet trump is not culpable in any of this. this guy testifies and says that yeah, subversion of all of these worries was part of an image campaign so that tom could look good. and beyond that, -- so that trump could look good. and beyond that, they put out negative stories against trump and those running against him. i don't know how you'd sit and say this is partisan. trump has been in so many areas found guilty through his proxies that how is it that is not? host: let's get a response. guest: his proxies or allies or people around him have been subject to unprecedented novel applications of the law. some have pled guilty because i think wrongly in my view, because of the cost of fighting the case is too much. what has happened to john eastman is an abomination. highlighting other abuses of people around trump to suggest trump is guilty of the crime isn't persu

trump. there's a moment when pecker testified that when word got he got word of the karen mcdougal story. trump called pecker. >> and pecker tried to convince trump to buy the story, but then trump said this mali anytime you do anything like this, it always gets out. >> let me think about it and i'll have michael cohen call you back in a few days. what does that tell you well, it certainly is. >> you're saying fits with what we all experienced when we were covering this campaign. and despite the turn, he's taken now, michael cohen was fanatically loyal to the man he always referred to as mr. trump. and we knew that he was always out there defending his reputation, i think to marcus is point this fits with what we know oh, about how meticulously trump pays attention to his image in the media, right? he, right. while this trial was going on, he's tweeting about the details of the way he's being covered in the new york times. so to this day, i think it's very much fits with what we know about h

have you ever attended any rallies for trump? have you attended any rallies against trump? they're also asking if you belong to any fringe groups they cite. q and on the proud boys, but also and tufa and one question they asked was thought was interesting and really specific to this case is do you have any strong beliefs about whether a former president can be criminally charged in state court because there are these questions about immunity and about whether the politics of going after a former president. i mean, another thing that is interesting here, the judge made it clear there will be no questions about political contributions, who you voted for, or who you like. because as the judge has said, in reminded the lawyers in his jury questionnaire that the issue here is not to determine whether someone likes trump's or doesn't like trump, but whether they can be fair and impartial. >> so as of now, this trial is happening monday. >> yeah >> this is, uh, go for now. >> judge has ruled against trump. >> yeah. trump's team went to the court today asking them to delay the tria